Haunted
by Southern Summer Nights
Summary: "Sollux, I have to leave." "Where are you going?" "Don't worry, Sollux. I'll be back soon enough!" (Please proceed with caution! Suicide!)
1. Chapter 1

The wind whipped Aradia's long cloak of hair around her, coaxing it to play. Aradia balanced on the edge of the skyscraper, looking down upon the concrete jungle below her.  
Aradia walked along the edge daintily, her hands folded behind her back. Her favorite dress fluttered above her knees as she tip-toed.  
All she could hear were the loud whispers of the wind and the steady 'tap-tap-tap' of Sollux's keyboard.  
"Sollux, can't you put that thing away? You're supposed to be watching the sunset with me!"  
"I am, AA. I'm just multitasking."  
She looked at him over her shoulder and pouted, "Come on, Sollux. Please? For me?"  
Sollux sighed and tucked his laptop into its carrying case. Aradia giggled and curled her finger in the 'come hither' motion before turning back to the view. This brought a ghost of a smile to Sollux's lips.  
He stood slowly and made his way over to her.  
She reached out to point him toward the sun, which was dipping below the horizon. As she pointed, though, she felt a colder, stronger gust of wind brush her skin, and it sent tingles down her spine. The wind was so strange and so mind-numbingly cold that she almost felt paralyzed. Her smile faltered and she retracted her hand quickly.  
Sollux took notice. He shrugged off his varsity jacket and carefully draped it on her shoulders.  
"You should have told me that you were cold," he murmured against her temple as he pulled her into a warm embrace. Aradia leaned back into him. Her front teeth worried her bottom lip.  
There were a few moments of silence between them, and Aradia thought she could hear the vague sound of wings flapping in the distance.  
"Sollux, do you know why I wanted you to meet me here?" Aradia asked quietly, breaking the silence abruptly.  
Sollux was taken aback, but he immediately pondered the question.  
"Well, I thought it was normal," he paused, "because you like things like this."  
Aradia nodded.  
"You're right... I do. But that's not why I wanted you to meet me here."  
Aradia pulled the jacket tighter around herself and turned to him, thus breaking the embrace. Her hand fell upon the golden locket around her neck.  
His eyebrows furrowed.  
"What is it, Aradia?"  
She twisted the locket nimbly in her fingers. She looked up at him, her jaw set in determination.  
"Sollux, I have to leave."  
His eyes crinkled in confusion and he squinted at her. Her behaviour was becoming worrisome.  
"Where are you going?"  
Aradia brought her hands up to the back of her neck, taking off the locket and kissing it.  
She took his hand in hers and dropped the locket in his palm. He gave her a dumb-founded look.  
"Don't worry, Sollux. I'll be back soon enough!" Her lips curled into a grin. She hugged his jacket even tighter around her frame as more rough wind blew passed.  
Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she teetered off the edge of the building. Aradia could just barely hear Sollux's surprised yells over the deafening screaming of the wind. She was still smiling, though. She had articulated the whole thing and she knew what would come next.  
She peeked one eye open, watching the terrified looks of the building's inhabitants from their bedroom windows.  
Her eyes wandered straight up and she examined how far she had fallen. She couldn't see Sollux's form anymore, either because of the angle or that he had already panicked to the exit. She believed it was the latter.  
She felt herself near the ground and closed her eyes again.  
_It won't be too long. Not too long at all, Sollux..._  
The force of the impact made the air gush from her lungs. She heard her spine break with a sickening crack.  
A paralyzing pain shot through her neck, numbing her skull and engulfing the rest of her body in painful tremors.  
The last thing she heard before everything faded to black were Sollux's strangled screams.  
"Aradia!"


	2. Chapter 2

A sickly-sweet smell of fresh flowers and the lingering scent of Sollux's cologne mingled and wafted through Aradia's nose. The smell was intoxicating, like nothing she had ever encountered before.  
Her eyes fluttered open groggily, and she was met with the sight of a grand purple sky, freckled with shining stars. The light from the moon was a spotlight over her. It was captivating, how the light from the stars and moon ricocheted off the white clouds that rolled by and illuminated the pale skin of her face.  
She basked in the moonlight for a few moments so she could recollect her thoughts. She remembered telling Sollux that she was leaving, and then she took the dive from the skyscraper, leaving him direly confused. She felt guilt fill her being and she bit her lip. She should have provided him with a proper explanation, but she knew she would be able to do it afterwards.  
Besides, she thought, if I told him, he would have stopped me!  
She shooed away her thoughts of Sollux and focused on the smell of flowers... Or were they flowers?  
She sat up, grasping her head (which for some odd reason still ached) and looking around.  
A field of white roses lay around her. Aradia reached out and carefully picked one. The petals turned red on contact.  
"How peculiar..."  
She watched in wonder as her words printed themselves on the flower. On closer examination, she found that the flowers were made of paper. This surprised her. They were hauntingly beautiful, and they looked so real.  
But no, they were all well crafted origami flowers.  
She thought back, linking them to something she had heard from Rose.

"Aradia, I read the strangest thing in one of my old books! It's really fascinating!"  
Rose was smirking at her, holding a dusty leather-bound book in her arm. Aradia perked up.  
"Ah, really? What did you read, Rose?"  
"For you to understand, I must tell you that this book is about the Angel of Death," Rose explains, glancing at Aradia.  
Aradia nodded in understanding, "Okay, got it!"  
Rose looked back to the book and began reading.  
"It says, 'And every feather lost by the Angel is collected. Handled with utmost care, the feathers are taken by a lowly grave-digger. With intricate and nimble fingers, the grave-digger crafts the feathers into elegant paper flowers, and he plants them in Death's graveyard.'"  
Aradia soaked in the information, "Wow, that is interesting!"  
Rose held up her hand, "Hold on, There's more: 'The flowers, although they had lost characteristics of ever being feathers from Death's very own wings, still carry the magical aura from before. They feed off of spiritual energy. If a wandering spirit enters Death's Graveyard and picks one, they can change colors, shapes, and absorb words spoken.'"  
"That's so cool! Do you think they're real, Rose?"  
Rose snickered and closed her book, "Indeed, I do. How about you, Aradia. Do you think they're real?"  
Aradia thought for a moment, "I'm not sure! Maybe we'll see them one day!"  
Rose nodded, "Maybe one of us will. Sooner than we believe..."

Aradia remembered how she was confused by what Rose meant. She brushed it off soon after, but it would haunt her mind time after time. She realized that Rose was right. Aradia got to see the flowers first.  
Sighing, Aradia tucked the paper rose behind her ear and stood up. She might as well explore; it'll take a while before she can go back to Earth.  
She began walking, wary of the flowers. The poor grave-digger must have worked really hard on this garden...  
Aradia's eyes widened.  
What if he was there?  
What if she ran into him?  
She glanced around nervously.  
There were no signs of life around her. (Which did not surprise her. She was in Death's graveyard, after all)  
She continued forward with mild caution, looking out for signs of a different presence.  
The sound of digging echoed and startled her. Aradia paused and turned her head to the source. She saw the silhouette of a man, not even 20 yards away from her. Her breath hitched and she felt herself walking toward him.  
She tried to conceal the noises of her clothes shifting against each other by walking slowly, but she failed in her attempt and caused more noise than she had hoped. This did not deter her, though. She continued moving foward steadily, her eyes never leaving the figure.  
One, two, three steps. Pause. Another three steps.  
Aradia put her foot out, carefully setting it down. Only, she felt no solid ground beneath her foot. She fell with an unceremonious yelp as she sunk foward, closing her eyes and landing headfirst on something she couldn't quite make out. It was firm and her hands grasped at what seemed to be cloth of some sort.  
The same sickly-sweet smell from before invaded her nostrils, making her gag. She opened her watery eyes hesitantly and came face-to-face with the grotesque sight of rotting green skin, infested with maggots. Aradia bit her lip to keep from vomiting, bringing her hand up to her mouth.  
She brought herself up stiffly, backing away from the body. She felt the bile creeping up her throat, preventing her from screaming.  
A shadow crept over her and she felt Sollux's jacket pulled taut by a stranger's hand. Aradia felt herself being lifted off of her feet and out of the hole.


End file.
